Bias Cut Spandex Headband

ABSTRACT

A headband used for moisture wicking purposes, made from spandex is bias-cut in order to prevent rolling up of the edges of said headband.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to headbands and more specifically to headbands made from a single layer of spandex. Such spandex headbands have become extremely popular as more people engage in sports related and workout activities, including especially yoga. While females are the predominant users of these headbands, they are not limited to use by females. Many males wear them, including football players under their helmets and males with long hair who wish to keep their hair off their face, and even for the sake of fashion alone. Spandex is an especially desirable material for headbands because of its elasticity and its moisture-wicking properties. Spandex blends are thin and thus pull moisture from the head allowing for its evaporation.

Due to the simplicity with which spandex headbands can be made, they are often made at home. One can find many hundreds of videos online that teach how to make spandex headbands. However the technique used in all of these prior art methods for cutting the spandex results in a headband that suffers from two problems. The first is that the edges of the headband tend to roll up when stretched. The second problem is fraying of the edges of the headband. The present invention solves these problems.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In view of the foregoing disadvantages inherent in the known methods of making spandex headbands, the present invention addresses the problem by applying the technique of bias cutting to form the piece of material that comprises the headband.

Woven material made with spandex fibers for use in making apparel is usually mixed with cotton or polyester, and accounts for a small percentage of the final fabric, which therefore retains most of the look and feel of the other fibers. All woven material is made by the process of weaving, in which two distinct sets of yarns or threads are interlaced at right angles to form a fabric or cloth. When such fabric is purchased in bulk it is effectively a large grid of its component fibers. The longitudinal threads are called the warp and the lateral threads are the weft or filling.

Prior art methods of cutting strips of fabric for making headbands involve the simple process of cutting along the weft and the warp. This is the most efficient method as it minimizes waste and is much easier than any other method of cutting a rectangular piece of fabric into smaller rectangular pieces of fabric for making headbands. As discussed herein however, this results in headbands with rolled up edges due to stretching along the warp and the additional problem of fraying over time due to wear. A rectangular piece of spandex fabric that is instead cut on the bias solves these problems as will be further explained in the detailed description of the invention and by reference to the drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows single spandex fabric as it is purchased in bulk form.

FIG. 2 shows the location of a piece of spandex fabric to be cut from the bulk fabric of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 shows the piece of spandex fabric of FIG. 2 as removed from the bulk fabric.

FIG. 4 shows a head made from the spandex fabric of FIG. 3 according to the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Spandex is a flexible yarn that can be used in woven as well as in knitted fabrics to increase the elasticity of fabric but there is no fabric as such that has 100% spandex in it. It is typically in the range of 10% to 20% of the composition of the overall fabric. It is derived from crude oil and is described in chemical terms as segmented polyurethane. It stretches under tension and recovers its original length when tension is relaxed. It can be stretched four to seven times its original length. It is combined with other ‘hard’ yarns to produce elastane stretch fabrics.

Bias cutting is a well-known technique in the garment manufacturing industry. An appropriate description for bias would be “on the diagonal.” Looking at a cut piece of fabric, one can see the fibers that were used to weave the fabric. Half of them run the length of the fabric and half run across from selvedge to selvedge. The fibers have been woven together in an under-and-over fashion that creates the fabric. Bias is simply the diagonal, which cuts at a 45-degree angle to those fibers. Drawing a line on both biases on a piece of fabric would create a large X.

There are many different kinds of fabric but two of the main categories are woven and knit. Woven fabrics are as described above with straight fibers that run the length and width of the fabric. Knit fabrics, such as those used for t-shirts and socks, start with one very long strand that is worked around needles that result in tiny swirling rows of linking fibers. Bias refers only to woven fabrics. The grid pattern of straight fibers has certain traits that act very differently than knits. Therefore, whenever the word “bias” is used, the reference is to woven fabric only.

The length of a non-stretch woven fabric does not stretch; neither does the width. This is a good thing and all crafters and sewers depend on that property to have projects, such as a dress, hang properly. Pattern pieces are laid out along the grain, or length of a fabric, to ensure a nice straight swing to a dress.

Bias-cut non-stretch material, on the other hand, is stretchy. Pulling on a fabric across the diagonal results in a stretch that also contracts the rest of the fabric. This property of woven fabric has been cultivated for interesting and useful projects for sewers. Almost all garment pattern pieces are laid out on woven fabric along the grain so that they hang properly.

The straight grain is the grain used most often in garments. The straight grain generally runs up the center front and center back of garments and up through the center of sleeves and pant legs. In situations where a garment is cut slightly off grain this may cause sleeves or pant legs to twist around the body. Where a fabric weave does not hold a solid grid pattern, the fabric is hard to cut correctly, causing pieces, which are off grain. This can be seen in example in cheap t-shirts. In contrast to the straight grain, garments can also be made on the bias cut but this makes the fabric much more unstable.

If a piece is cut slightly off-grain, the result is a garment that always feels crooked and may have seams that pucker. However, pattern pieces that are deliberately placed at a perfect 45-degree angle, or on the bias, have a unique ability. The resulting garment, mostly used for dresses, is a sheath that hugs the body. The beauty of a bias-cut dress is that it hugs every curve of the body like a glove. No matter what the wearer's shape, the fabric conforms perfectly. Men's neckties are cut on the bias so they tie nicely. Piping is cut on the bias since it's usually used around the edges of items.

However, bias cutting on stretch fabrics has heretofore not been used for any purposes. A stretch fabric cut on the bias would hang in a very distorted manner, because the direction with more stretch than the bias will pull more than the bias does. For this reason, there has been no need to cut stretch fabrics such as spandex on the bias. It is generally known that certain fabrics have the problem of rolling up on the edges when cut along the grain but various known finishing techniques are utilized in the garment manufacturing industry that solve the problem and these same techniques are commonly used in do-it-yourself home sewing projects.

The do-it-yourself person wanting to make a spandex headband may not be an expert at sewing techniques that would create finished edges on spandex headbands. Also, these techniques would result in a headband that is not a completely single layer, as for example, the edges may have to be doubled up and sewn. It is much more desirable to use a single layer of spandex to form the headband both for cost reasons and functional reasons (moisture wicking, appearance and fit).

What is needed is a method for maintaining the simplicity of creating a headband from single layer, raw spandex fabric but without the inherent problems of the heretofore only used methods of cutting the fabric. Basis cutting is this new method. A rectangular strip of fabric cut on the bias retains the stretch quality of the original fabric but will not roll up on the long edges when stretched. FIG. 1 shows a roll of single layer spandex fabric 10 as may be purchased by a do-it-yourselfer wanting to make headbands. FIG. 2 shows a strip of spandex fabric 20 cut on the bias from material 10. FIG. 3 shows the strip of spandex fabric 20 cut in accordance with the novel bias cutting method described herein, having ends 30 and 40. FIG. 4 shows a headband made according to the invention described herein.

To create a headband from fabric strip 30 the ends 40 and 50 are attached using any one of the many known means used in headbands. Nothing described herein is intended to place any limitations on the means by which ends 40 and 50 may be joined to form a headband, and the invention is not so limited. By way of example, some of the means for joining said ends include tying, sewing, and using clasps.

The scope of the invention is indicated by the following claims rather than by the foregoing description. All changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are to be embraced within their scope. 

1. A headband comprising: an elongated strip of a single layer of spandex material having a first end and a second end; and a means for joining said first and second ends to form a headband; wherein said spandex material is bias cut.
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